The QM Rule: Coming Soon to a Lender Near You

A busy housing market and encouraging stats on employment offer some optimistic news about the economy. But even with a rosier financial outlook, tighter lending standards are keeping many borrowers from qualifying for mortgages and other loans. And those standards...

What’s Behind the Lending Slowdown?

Interest rates are still low, the housing market is rebounding, and employment stats are better – so why are loan approval rates down and fewer applications being processed? Financial experts point to a combination of factors stemming from the freewheeling days of the...

How Can Foreclosures and Short Sales Affect Credit?

Over the last few years, record numbers of homeowners have lost their houses to foreclosure or short sales, leaving a blot on their credit report that can linger for nearly a decade. But that blot may not be the obstacle to getting back into the housing market that it...

Major Lenders Face New Complaints

Like the endlessly looping rerun of a really bad television show, the nation’s top five banks behaving badly are still stalling and misleading customers, even after a string of lawsuits, settlements and accusations of mismanagement. According to a new report in The...

Green Homes Mean Greenbacks

Green is still in. More and more businesses large and small are jumping on the bandwagon of environmentally friendly products, services and community planning initiatives. And now, the demand for energy saving features and earth-sensitive practices appears to be...

College Degrees: A Waste of Four Years?

Is a college degree worth the cost? According to a new survey reported by Forbes, a majority of “millennials” – new and recent college grads – say no. They wish they’d worked and saved instead. And as spiraling student loan debt takes a toll on Hot enough company They...

Job Growth Changes Bond Buyup Plans

In a recent series of intermittent posts on the Federal Reserve’s massive buyup of mortgage backed securities, we’ve been following the plan’s fast forward/slo-mo progress in response to the ebb and flow of activity in various sectors of the economy, particularly...

Can Rising Home Prices Signal Another Housing Collapse?

Everything old is new again. For many financial analysts and real estate experts, that old saying may explain fears that the stars are aligning for another housing collapse, thanks to current trends in the market that echo all too clearly the signs that led to the...